Spirea Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFFGCCHIJKCLMNDO DPQFFFRESTPUVWXYTZDT DA2VB2PIC2VVVD2E2DF2 G2H2YI2DIJ2DTK2DVL2M 2DN2 O2P2VTQ2DVR2TS2T2U2V 2VT2PTCW2DW2VVTX2VY2 TVZ2W2TW2VW2VPA3VU2W 2W2VW2W2Q2B3VDW2VC3V D3VW2E3 VVA3VVW2VV VVH2DD W2W2VTCW2F3W2VDW2W2W 2W2Z2DW2W2M2VThen she came the sybil out through the doors | A |
of The Bell the single drinking establishment | B |
permitted in that narrow little country town | C |
she came out neither staggering nor collapsing | D |
but gliding not carefully one step at a time | E |
like a tight rope walker but recklessly wantonly | F |
as someone oblivious to danger who knows already | F |
what lies ahead and has nothing to fear | G |
Down | C |
the wooden steps of the board walkway on down | C |
into the dust and refuse of the street the rinds | H |
and horse droppings and they watched her go | I |
without really noticing since they saw this | J |
every evening now that warm weather had come | K |
when she ventured out to wander in the town | C |
and the fact that she was barefooted that | L |
she wore only a blue shirtwaist that her hair | M |
hung the length of her back and was never combed | N |
or pinned up that she seldom stopped talking | D |
to herself that all her relatives were dead | O |
that she had no place to stay owned nothing | D |
needed nothing harmed no one | P |
these facts | Q |
were accepted known throughout the community | F |
were discussed by the ladies' aid society | F |
by the minister and by the township trustee | F |
and yet none of them could contain her not | R |
the bartender who told her when it was time | E |
to leave not the old rag buyer who reined in | S |
his horse when he saw her and called to her | T |
asking her to come sit beside him in the wagon | P |
and he would take her home for none of them | U |
would she turn back even when they pleaded | V |
and called out her name | W |
Each time she went forth | X |
when she walked through the streets the alleys | Y |
in the twilight some of them encountered her | T |
the husbands out watering their lawns the wives | Z |
with their children the young people pausing | D |
at the corner with their bicycles watching her | T |
seeing her go by Many avoided her passing | D |
many were afraid unable to return her bright gaze | A2 |
A light shone from her eyes Something glimmered | V |
when she moved There was about her a presence | B2 |
an immanence that announced a way a direction | P |
most of them could not imagine would never know | I |
She walked on heedless muttering to herself | C2 |
leaving them far behind | V |
In this way she journeyed | V |
through the summer evenings and into the night | V |
while all around her doors were closing lamps | D2 |
were dimmed the world was preparing for sleep | E2 |
Always she moved in a straight line pausing | D |
for no obstacle respecting no property line | F2 |
through backyards over fences across gardens | G2 |
managing to steer nightly by a different star | H2 |
by Venus smoldering low above the line of trees | Y |
by Mars or Saturn in stark opposition to the moon | I2 |
by whatever brightness seemed most beckoning | D |
however faint or furious its glow | I |
In this way | J2 |
she traversed all points of the town stopping | D |
sometimes to speak to whomever or whatever | T |
she encountered whether house tree horse | K2 |
or child but invariably moving on walking | D |
on through the streets and into the countryside | V |
walking out among the fields the gravel roads | L2 |
walking until she collapsed against a stone wall | M2 |
under a hedge or in a barn with rain falling | D |
walking until she lost her way among dark dreams | N2 |
- | |
In this manner on the first evening in May drawn | O2 |
by an unknown star she leaves the tavern and comes | P2 |
eventually to the edge of town to the side yard | V |
to the croquet court actually of a professor | T |
of physics at the college who nightly sets up | Q2 |
his reflecting telescope and who on this evening | D |
has trained it on an elusive entity | V |
a nebula | R2 |
thousands of light years away a great star cluster | T |
tilted on one side displaying vast spiral arms | S2 |
it is this same man this professor who notices | T2 |
behind him something struggling through the hedge | U2 |
through the arms of the spirea called bridal veil | V2 |
through that pale maze of blossoming that thicket | V |
of lush damp drooping spiraling white branches | T2 |
not far away in the twilight he hears someone | P |
coming toward him then recognizes this wanderer | T |
from the town | C |
watches her shoulder aside the canes | W2 |
bursting at last onto the level lawn then stopping | D |
righting herself reaching to touch and feel the welts | W2 |
along her arms her shoulders the thin red cut | V |
on her cheek observes her peer about slowly | V |
at the house the arbor the herbs in their ladder | T |
her gaze turning at last to the well dressed man | X2 |
with his celluloid collar his knotted silk tie | V |
where he stands with one hand on the telescope | Y2 |
- | |
Is he young and handsome is this semester | T |
his first in the town has he only recently | V |
accepted a position at the little college | Z2 |
Does he turn the heads of the young ladies | W2 |
does he sing bass in the Baptist church choir | T |
is he one of the town's leading bachelors | W2 |
Or is he a white haired gentleman stooped | V |
round shouldered has he been there for years | W2 |
taught generations of young people outlived | V |
an affectionate wife sent forth children | P |
lived to see grandchildren does he reside alone | A3 |
at the edge of town on a wide brick street | V |
in a gas boom mansion with a massive hedge | U2 |
of spirea enclosing the property on three sides | W2 |
a front gate of cast iron tipped with arrowheads | W2 |
Does it matter now whether he is young or old | V |
Does he know himself about any of these things | W2 |
on a night like this at the moment she emerges | W2 |
from the spirea's whiteness as though swum up | Q2 |
through a heavy pounding surf | B3 |
Her shirtwaist | V |
is torn she is hardened by incessant walking | D |
and wandering by being out in all weathers | W2 |
her breasts and her gaunt body have emerged | V |
androgynous and gleaming she is aglow now | C3 |
dusted with shattered blossom as though prepared | V |
for some elusive ritual and as she gazes at him | D3 |
she continues to mutter to murmur has in fact | V |
never ceased to speak to utter strange syllables | W2 |
whether she understands the words he cannot tell | E3 |
- | |
He waits beside the telescope the gleaming shaft | V |
poised on its tripod which earlier he pointed | V |
up into the wealth of stars earlier alone | A3 |
far from the interference of artificial light | V |
he had come out he had set up the equipment | V |
he carried chalkboard in hand for observations | W2 |
he began to search to locate to gaze into | V |
the huge glimmering hearth of the night sky | V |
- | |
and only moments ago he had found it had | V |
checked his coordinates had seen distinctly | V |
he had looked up and into looked out far | H2 |
toward those myriad outflung arms that turning | D |
that vast still immeasurable unfolding | D |
- | |
and the visitor strangely silenced now begins | W2 |
to come his way across the fresh cut grass | W2 |
she approaches strides toward him unhesitant | V |
and unafraid reaches to touch the viewing aperture | T |
already in perfect focus smiles and leans down | C |
fragments of white blossom living particles | W2 |
of sundered veil cling to her long hair drip | F3 |
from her forearms her rough hands she sees | W2 |
she looks for a long time There is no sound | V |
except her slight breathing | D |
Finally she begins | W2 |
she raises her head the light is in her eyes | W2 |
the shining and she speaks what comes He bows | W2 |
as though in prayer knowing there is no difference | W2 |
it is the far galaxy great orb and afterimage | Z2 |
in his brain it is the milk white hedge cresting | D |
all around them it is the unsummoned presence | W2 |
come at last and always up through the waves | W2 |
it is the voice speaking through all to all | M2 |
here now in the darkness in the starlight | V |
Jared Carter
(1)
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